An award-winning English and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., Larry Ferlazzo is the author of Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges, The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide, and Building Parent Engagement In Schools.He also maintains the popular Websites of the Day blog. In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, he will address readers' questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. And offer your own thoughts and responses in the comments section.

Recently in instruction Category

March 17, 2013

Last week's question was:
What are the best ways to help students -- mainstream and/or English Language Learners -- develop academic vocabulary?
Helping our students develop academic vocabulary knowledge has always been a challenge to us teachers, and the Common Core Standards "up" the challenge a...

March 13, 2013

This week's "question of the week" is:
What are the best ways to help students -- mainstream and/or English Language Learners -- develop academic vocabulary?
Please share your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me.
Anyone whose question is selected for this we...

March 03, 2013

(This is Part Two of a two-part series. You can see Part One here)
The question asked two weeks ago was:
How can English Teachers Best Improve Their Craft?
I've previously posted a number of responses that apply to this question, including a five-part series on teaching reading and another five...

February 24, 2013

(This is Part One of a two-part series)
Last week's question was:
How can English Teachers Best Improve Their Craft?
I've previously posted a number of responses that apply to this question, including a five-part series on teaching reading and another five-part series on teaching writing.
You al...

February 14, 2013

This week's question is:
How can English Teachers Best Improve Their Craft?
Please share your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me. This will turn into a multi-part series, so there will be plenty of space for reader contributions.
I might be publishing a spec...

February 13, 2013

(This is the second post in a two-part series on this topic. You can read Part One here.)
Last week, Juan Cortes asked:
Many times teacher are told by our districts to follow specific programs, but many times those programs do not differentiate or do not address specific needs of my students.
H...

February 10, 2013

(This is the first post in a two-part series on this topic.)
Last week, Juan Cortes asked:
Many times teacher are told by our districts to follow specific programs, but many times those programs do not differentiate or do not address specific needs of my students.
How can I balance following wh...

February 07, 2013

Juan Cortes asks:
Many times teacher are told by our districts to follow specific programs, but many times those programs do not differentiate or do not address specific needs of my students.
How can I balance following what my district tells me vs what I feel the students need?
What a great que...

January 27, 2013

Last week's question was:
What are the Do's & Don'ts of Project-Based Learning?
Few people know more about Project-Based Learning than Suzie Boss, and she graciously agreed to respond to this "question of the week." In addition, several readers left thoughtful comments.
Between them, I don't rea...

January 22, 2013

(This is the second post in a two-part series on this topic. You can see Part One here)
Mary Lou Baker asked:
"How can we best prepare our students for the common core in language arts?"
As I mentioned in the last post, I have been no fan of the Common Core standards (see The Best Articles Shar...

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.